The Witch beside the Stake
by PurpleInkling
Summary: Dragons do not get along too well with witches. Fortunately for Selendrile, he did not find a witch on the stake, just Alys. But his cousin, Drashim is not so lucky, he finds Clairit. A witch hunting down a dragon to get her sister, Alys, back.
1. Gone

**The Witch beside the Stake**

Chapter 1: Gone

A cool breeze picked up, Clairit clutched the cloak about her more tightly, and while steadying the aged branch beneath her as she glided through the air to the moonlit town of St. Toby's. Like every other year she was heading to visit her father and sister at midnight. Perched upon her oak branch, she stared down at the little town to pick out the tinsmith's home. As she approached the little house, something was terribly wrong. She landed lightly on her feet gripping the branch tightly in her hands, her knuckles turning white. Nothing but rubble was left.

There were weeds sprouting in between the rubble; a sign that the wilderness was claiming what had been abandoned. What possibly could have happened in the time she had been away for things to end up like this? Clairit leaned her branch against what was left of the outer walls. Clambering through the rubble, she looked about for clues. It smelt faintly burnt. There was ash here and there. But surely a fire could not have brought down the walls….

Last time she visited, her father was not in the best of health nor was he terribly ill either for her to feel the need to sneak in some mild concoction into his food to strengthen his health, without any, even himself, noticing. She had brought her cloak this time with its thousands of hidden pockets with herbs and stuff, just in case her father did not seem better. Fear grasped her heart as she thought of her father possibly having died already… Perhaps she was too late… No, she must figure out what has happened not worry about what might have happened. There was no point in grieving about something that has not happened.

She found bits of metal here and there. Her twin sister, the last time she had saw her, had been learning their father's tinsmith craft. She too seemed healthy, well as healthy as a tinsmith's daughter can be. If this world could have let her to live like the daughter of a highborn witch, she would not have had to face so many hardships. Neither of them would have. Clairit's family could have been whole. It was nothing but a dream. Her mother had been killed by a witch hunter, despite all her efforts to hide it and use her abilities for the good of those who rejected her. With her own magic, Clairit had managed to escape, though heart broken by the fact that she had to leave her mother behind. She shuddered, shaking the horrible memories away.

She recalled a few good memories with her mother to make herself feel better. She remembered the times when her mother taught her how to make the basic brews and then those that required magic. The first night she flew on her oak branch, with her mother beside her, leading them to see her father for the first time. It was a strange night; a night full of answers and questions. She was nine when she first met her twin, Alys.

She was girl much like herself, but with different coloured hair, hers was brown while Clarit's was black with a streak of white, the hair colour of a witch in her family. Her mother, her grandmother and her great grandmother had the same. Clairit's great grandmother was a faerie, so she was the source of the magic in her blood. Among the fey, her great grandmother was respected, and so of course was her and her mother, once they made it known that they were descendents of the forest oak faerie. Her great grandfather had slowly begun to age despite the magic that kept him healthy for however long, and so to preserve her love, her great grandmother turned both herself and him into a mighty oak tree at the centre of a forest, so they may dwell together forever. Clairit's oak branch came from that very tree, so her great grandparents could always keep watch over her.

Anyways, the magical abilities are only passed on to one of the children, and Clairit was the one to receive the gift. She had always wondered what life would have been like had it not been her but Alys. That night, upon which she met her twin sister, she had her answer. She saw life as it would have been normally, through Alys. Clairit would not say she did not envy Alys, but at the same time she appreciated what her magic gave her in life as well. Clairit talked to Alys all night. Alys answered her truthfully, but a little distantly. It was the effect of the potion her mother gave Alys and her father before she woke them up. It allowed them to speak truthfully to Clairit and her mother, yet when morning came they would remember none of it.

Her mother always told her how they could not disturb her father and sister's life, lest it brings unwanted attention to them from others. When Alys and her father had gone back to sleep again, they would check everything and be sure to put everything away, just how it was before they came. They would smudge away the silence spell circle around the house before they set of on the oak branches. That first night was truly a magical night for her. She had found out that she did indeed have a father, and even a twin sister. She even found out why they did not stay with them when they flew back. Her mother had faked her own death when Alys and Clairit were born. Upon seeing Clairit born, her mother had known she was a witch and that she could not continue to live under the noses of the village people and her own husband with a witch child in tow. Leaving Alys with her father, her mother had taken her to her grandmother's place in Griswold. It must have broken her mother's heart, but she loved her father too much to let him carry the burden of having witches in his family. "To protect them," her mother had said, "They must not know about us…"

So even if Clairit had wanted to give her twin a dress that would make her seem more womanly than her girl's dress allowed her to seem, she could not. She wondered if her sister shared the same anxiety as she did at being more to the flatter side of things. But, she did not have the heart to ask her the last time they chatted, knowing Alys would only truthfully reply. And now she does not even know if Alys did develop curves like she had this past year. Where could her sixteen year old twin have gone?

She knew her father had worries about getting Alys married, for she had asked him, but from where could he have provided her a dowry? Business was poor, and not only that, her father was not doing as much work as he used to. Alys was doing more things now. Perhaps that's just it….

Maybe Alys did get married…. Some boy from another town that may have bought some tin and caught her eye might have married her. She may already have children to cluck after. She may be enjoying life as a young woman ought to. And perhaps father had gone with them to a better town… Clairit let out a sigh, if anyone heard the rant going on in her head, they would think she was insane and definitely in denial. Her intuition told more than moving away had happened here… And it was times like this that she wished her witch's intuition would keep to itself.

She had not found anything human yet, so it gave her more hope that her father and sister might still be alive. As she lifted another block of the walk to the side, she found a partly burnt wooden wheel, preserved only because it was under the block. It was still incomplete, because some its spokes were not put in. What was a wheel doing inside of the house? She turned to look at the neighbouring wheel maker's house. Looks like someone else will have to give her an update on everything that has happened.

* * *

I hope you like it so far. And just to give people a warning, I won't be updating this one too often, because my other fan fiction has priority. But I will try and update this one as soon as possible.


	2. False Bait

Chapter 2: False Bait

After dusting away the silence spell around the wheel maker's newly repaired home, Clairit took flight in a hurry, as she desperately fought her urge to torch the place and convict the wheel maker's daughter of the witchcraft. How could neighbours be so heartless? As fresh air filled her lungs, she looked down and saw that what the wheel maker said was true. The whole village looked repaired from a dragon's attack. But if all he said was true, it meant that she was indeed too late to save her father... She flattered in her flight as it truly sunk in and tears began to trickle down her face. "Little one, little one, all hope is not lost... You are not alone; you still have family in this world..."

Alys, she was all Clairit had left, not counting the great oak tree in the forest. She looked down and smiled at the oak branch from which the spirit of her great grandmother had spoken. They were always there in her times of great grief. The time her grandmother had passed away, and the time her mother was captured and killed. Only the voice of her great grandmother had kept her from turning back to her mother, and facing a similar fate. "Grand mere, how can you know that Alys is still here?" Clairit cried in her despair, "She was taken by a dragon!"

"I know..." Why would a dragon take Alys? And for what reason would a dragon keep a human that knows their secrets alive? According to the wheel maker, Alys knew the threat that iron had to the fey, and that dragons must transform to their original form during dawn and dusk. She had also known that dragons could change their form, like becoming a human. Clairit did not think the dragon ate Alys, since dragons rarely eat humans, but that did not assure her that the dragon did not kill Alys. Since the knowledge Alys possessed about the dragons would surely be counted as a threat to the existence of dragons and thus she would be deemed to die by their council. Only other fey can know about the secrets of the dragons, not the regular folk. But even the fey and their descendants, like Clairit, do not know all the dragon's secrets. If Alys is still alive, according to her great grandmother, then the reason for which is one Clairit does not know about. But she will find out. She is going to track down that dragon, and if her sister is a slave, then she shall rescue her. She will punish the dragon for making her sister suffer. After which, Alys and Clairit will live happily together, family.

Clairit looked down at the landscape and saw the destination to which she had subconsciously already decided to head towards. The stake was on top of a hill. The wheel maker said that there was still a dragon around, terrorizing the place. As she set down beside the stake, she began using the front end of her oak branch to trace around the stake by the light of moon. When one is calling a dragon out to meet you, you best take precautions. Iron would have been a far more effective method of capture, but the fey blood in her made her liable to it as well.

Clairit dropped the oak branch on the ground, to make it look like a random branch strewn on the ground, but only after she put an anti-flammable spell on it, just in case the dragon wanted to torch some stuff. She had her cloak stowed away between the branches of a nearby bush, for it too expensive and bulky for any little girl to be weary. Not only that, Clairit figured that if the town folk left a girl tied to the stake, it would not be with a perfectly usable cloak. So all she was left with was her own skin and a simple farm girl's dress with a brown apron.

Just as the sun was coming up, she leaned back on the stake, pretending to be tied to it, and waited. It struck Clairit as ironic that witchcraft was the very thing that led to her father's death and the conviction of her sister to the stake for a dragon, when it was the very thing her mother and Clairit herself had protected her father and Alys from all these years. If this was their fate all along, then what difference would it have made for Clairit and her mother to have lived with them? All the moments they could have truly shared together has a family, the thought of which made another tear trickle down Clairit's face.

After a long while, the sun was rising up. Upon seeing the first rays of dawn, Clairit quickly got up and resumed her position. She had fallen asleep on the stake. But it was a good thing she woke up, because not too long after there was a green scaled dragon flying in the sky. It was a handsome dragon, but Clairit could already tell that it was not exactly graceful. In fact, the dragon seemed not to know how to fly straight. It was flying in loops and zig-zag patterns. It seemed to enjoy flying in uncomfortable twists and heart wrenching drops and rise patterns. Clairit was getting dizzy just watching the dragon fly, for she could only imagine how flying like that on her branch would be like. She would have to be insane to try it, yet the dragon seemed to be in full control of his flight. "Now, if the damn dragon could just stop dancing in the sky and fall for the bait set out for him," Clairit muttered, as she pretended to be struggling against the stake.

When the dragon was nearly just over her head, it stopped in the middle of a sky tumble and turned its blue eyes to Clairit below. For once, it flew as a dragon normally should, and circled around Clairit. It knew she was there for it. Seeing how big it was, Clairit wondered if this was a good idea after all. The shadow of the dragon swept across Clairit as it flew away, towards the forest. It disappeared among the trees. Even though it had gone, Clairit was sure it would be back.

Not long after, a young man dressed in just a pair of shorts was striding towards her from the woods. Striding would not be an appropriate adjective; rather, he was skipping barefooted along in her direction. She was not fooled by the guise, which was poorly done. She looked on with false apprehension at the approaching stranger, the dragon. It was a good thing it had assumed its human form, since then he would be easier to interrogate since he could talk. With some hope in her heart, she looked beyond the dragon to the woods to see if she could maybe spot Alys standing there. But there was no one, except a curious not so human boy approaching her.

"Oy, you got tied to the stake?" asked the teenager. Clairit nodded, while thinking 'Well, what does it look like, genius.'

"What for? Theft or the old witchcraft?"

Clairit did not reply as another tear trickled down her face. Witchcraft was both a gift and a curse.

"Oy, don't cry, missy, the dragon might not want to eat you..." She knew that, especially since it was the dragon that was telling her.

'Come closer, damn dragon, get in the circle,' thought Clairit, while she mumbled, "But... but it still might... kill me..."

"Not if you are not around to be killed. How about I set you free?"

"But the village people, they'll tie you to the stake too..." murmured Clairit, while she mentally begged the dragon to come forward into the circle.

"Oh, don't worry about little old me, they won't be able to catch me or tie me to no stake," the boy chuckled, probably because the dragon was laughing at irony of being tied to the stake for the dragon when he was the dragon. It would be funny if it ever happened. 'Maybe,' thought Clairit, 'I'll leave him tied to the stake when I'm done.'

The dragon came forward, with one foot in the circle. He suddenly skipped forward another two steps, when he noticed something was off. "Wait, your hands aren't-"

Clairit quickly clapped her hands and swept her hands in a circle and clapped them together again. The dragon was fleeing in mid transformation, but Clairit was too quick. Unable to change forms, or doing anything for that matter, he gave up and lay on the ground, weighed down by the strain of the binding and drained of energy from attempting to transform. 'Weird,' thought Clairit, 'I thought there would be more magical fizzle in the air when you capture a dragon. Maybe it's a wimpy dragon… So much for Grandma's old saying, the first is always the greatest…'

Clairit picked up her branch, holding it like a staff, and flipped him over with magic. His face was streaked with dirt from the ground, and his shorts seemed to have been stretched, probably because a dragon was trying to grow out of it. With a lopsided grin on his face, he looked up at her through emerald eyes, the same shade as his scales. "So they actually caught a witch this time..."

"Well, dragon, I think I was the hunter this time."

"The name's Dreno. You some dark enchantress or something, cause we dragons have no quarrel with you sorcerers, just when you dark folk use our body parts for magic and brewing. Since that's just plain disgusting and gross. Why not just use a goat eye, or sheep liver? Why need a dragon? If it's a tooth you need, I'll wrench one out of my own mouth for you, alright?"

"Shut up, dragon-"

"Dreno."

"Alright, Dreno, I do not need your body parts. I'd find a finer dragon than you if I was going for complex and dark magic stuff like that, mind you. Actually, if anyone did a spell with a piece of you in it, it would go haywire like the way you fly, let alone walk."

"You noticed that, did you? I'm the most acrobatic of the lot-"

"I don't care if you were! Quit yabbering, and listen to me."

"Okay, what's the point of you trapping a dragon, witch?"

"Clairit."

"Clairit is it? Nice name, mine means mighty, yours?"

"Serenity. Now listen!" Clairit could not remember anyone more annoying than the brown haired guy at her feet. "_Zashique._" Now that he had been properly zipped up by her spell, she got to her say her piece. "Do you know a girl named Alys? Nod for yes, shake your head for no."

He shook his head. "Did you see a girl at the stake here before me?"

Again, he shook his head. Clairit wondered if he was lying. "I'll kill you if you are lying to me!" He fervently shook his head. As Clairit debated as to what she should do next, Dreno pleaded through his expressions to be allowed to speak. "Alright. _Spokrish_."

"Well, you see, this land wasn't always my territory. In fact, I'm keeping it tamed for my cousin, who said I could have it for a decade or two. He left not too long ago, went to see the world again… I just finished my trip, and he offered up this plot for me to settle in until I got a better spot. This stake was here before me, so if anyone is going to know about it, it would be my cousin. If there was a pretty gal here before you, he would have been the dragon to take the bait…What was this girl to you? Your sister or something? Because that's real sad if they got wrong sister in the family as the witch the first time, considering the fact that you are a faerie witch by the forest smell to your blood. Only one witch in descendant faerie families… If you're so worried about her, why did you not save her? It'd save you the trouble of tracking her down on the other side of the world… Which is where, I reckon she is… If I recall correctly, my cousin had some girl with him when he went. She looked like you, but with brown hair, not black. Are you aging fast? Is it some disease, or magical marking that white streak? Or are you far older than you seem? You that girl's mother?"

Clairit kicked the dragon hard. "Ouff! What was that for, missy? Missy?"

Tears were going down her face like a pipe had turned on. Dreno had touched every sensitive spot of her present mental state. She was kneeling on the ground in the puddle of her own tears; at least it would not surprise Clairit if there was a puddle.

"Why you crying, miss Clairit? Did I say too much? I'm sorry; my big mouth can be a problem at times… It's your fault you know, since I usually don't talk so much. But you holding me hostage and all have made me nervous, jumpy and talkative… It's a stress reliever for some people, talking that is… You really aren't going to do anything nasty right? Selendrile always tells me weird frightening stories about these things… I never know if he is telling the truth or not, since he is so good at keeping a straight face. It's really hard to tell if he is being sarcastic or not. He says I'm just plain gullible that's all. Selendrile is my cousin… The one with this girl, Alys… At least I think so. He didn't want me to meet her particularly. Not sure why…"

"So she's alive?" mumbled Clairit, looking for anything to give her hope, something to latch onto in this life.

"I reckon so, if that girl was this Alys you're looking for…"

"Good, at least she won't be where I'm planning to send you!" Clairit said as she got up and kicked the dragon once more. She never knew dragons were so insensitively annoying. She wiped her tears on her sleeves and apron, whilst the dragon was whining away. She would have time for tears later, but for now she had to find Alys and teach the dragon a lesson. She did some enchantments, and when she was done the dragon was tied to the stake. He had no problem standing upright now, since he had probably recharged his strength by then, especially his mouth muscles.

"Didn't I tell you everything you wanted to know? And this is what I get for it? You witches are nasty people… This is no way to repay someone for their cooperation. What? Are you afraid that I'll avenge my capture and the two kicks you gave me if you set me free?"

"Shut up, dragon!" snapped Clairit.

"Dreno."

"Dreno, they both start with 'd' don't they? And we both know someone is going to come by some time or another and undo the spell circle. It's designed only to allow the hunter to go out, and the prey to go in. If anyone else treads on it, the spell will break. It's how I made it so I would have enough time to get away before you're free, unless someone plans on coming out on an early morning stroll," argued Clairit as she stepped out of the circle with her oak branch in hand.

"What if someone doesn't come all day? I have to transform at dusk, or I'll die! And we both know that this spell circle does not let me change as it was clearly demonstrated earlier. So at least let me become a dragon before you go!"

"Very funny. You know that the spell circle will expire by supper time, since it is a trait of the fey to know all the limitations of any binding made by spell circles as soon as you are trapped by it. I will be long gone, before you could track me down by supper time. You also know that now that I have stepped out of the circle and given up the title of being the hunter, I cannot step back in to allow you to transform. Cause if I did, you would transform not because I let you but because the binding would be gone and you would take revenge upon me. Yes, I fear you will take revenge, because you're a dragon, and a young hot blooded one at that. I am not stupid, even if I'm depressed. Do you have any more information you could offer me that would incline me to send someone from St. Toby's to check on you?"

"How about I offer you an even better deal? I'll show you, or at least help you track down my cousin and the girl? I have been around the world, so I'll know all the places to look for a dragon. My cousin's probably heading towards China first, since they love dragons over there."

"No thanks, I don't need you're company. I will figure out a way to go to China on my own, for I too have connections. But for the pointer as to what direction to search first, I'll be sure to hypnotize the wheel maker and send him over. And I'll keep myself from putting up a sign that says 'Dragon, this way -' or 'Dragon on the Stake'," laughed Clairit as she turned away and started walking towards the bush with her cloak.

"So that's it? You're just going to leave me here? You're just going to fetch your cloak, hop on your broom and take off?" called Dreno.

Clairit stopped; the bush was just a few more feet ahead of her. Something was off about what the dragon had just said. Turning back to face the dragon, Clairit implored those green eyes, "How did you know I had a cloak?"

"Oops."


	3. Clutches

Chapter 3: Clutches

Dreno was morphing into a dragon right before her eyes, even though he was supposed to have been tied to the stake, unable to change forms. Clairit scrambled on her oak branch, forgetting the cloak still hidden in the bush, and shot straight up into the air. But she did not even have a chance at beating a dragon in the air. He plucked her from the air with his forearms, branch and all. Clairit wiggled, trying to free her arms, but he was holding her too tightly. And before she could think up an appropriate verbal defense, she was out of his grasp, falling. Screaming she fell, with the oak branch falling behind with her just above her, just out of reach. Her dress and apron whipped around in the wind, as she watched the dragon fly around above where he dropped her. Terrified out of her mind, Clairit could not think of a single spell or incantation. She only dreaded the feel of hard ground when she falls upon it and breaks every bone in her body. 'So this is how dragons take revenge on their captors; they drop them to their deaths,' thought Clairit as she closed her eyes and accepted her fate.

* * *

"-to think witches are so faint at heart. Oh, so you coming back to the world of the living are you? Come on, keeping pumping that heart, and breathing. You can your eyes, you know, I am not that ugly…"

Clairit peered open her eyes to see the last person she ever wanted to see in her life leaning over her with an amused expression. She shoved Dreno's half naked body away from her, and huddled away further into the hay. She raised her hands to enchant a barrier between them, but nothing happened. Upon seeing her confusion furrow her brow, Dreno spoke up, "Like I'd let you attempt to put me under any more spells… Nifty little things, those charms…"

On both of her wrists were some green strings, which just happened to be the same shade of green as the stupid dragon's scales, but more importantly attached to these strings were a series of glass charms of the five elements of magic; fire, earth, water, air, and spirit, which represented anything besides the natural elements like the body binding or mind control spells. Understanding that she was now the prisoner, Clairit snapped, "What do you want dragon?"

"D-R-E-N-O. Dreno. Is that so hard? Sheesh, it's not like I call you witch, now do I? Are you sure your name means serenity?"

"What do you want, Dreno?" growled Clairit. She did not like this situation at all.

"Hey I was not the one baiting the dragon-"

"Then why am I the prisoner?" she interrupted.

"I did not know what else to do with you."

"You did not know what else to do with me? What does that even mean?"

"Well, after watching you make that spell circle, I hardly wanted you to go after my cousin. And you are a harmful thing to have around, such a mentally unstable enchantress, and I would be stupid if I released you after you attempted to capture me. It was sheer luck I was walking through the woods coming to take down that stake like my cousin asked me to do when I saw you plop down from that branch and begin your enchantment."

"You watched me the whole time."

"Yeah, and you fell asleep on the stake crying. You were so adorable. So I decided to play along but not before using a stick to scratch a hole into your spell circle. I would be stupid not too," he grinned.

"You are cruel."

"Why is that? I was not the one who started this. You did."

"Who calls someone adorable when they are crying their heart out?"

"So why are you so sad?"

"None of your business, dragon."

"Dreno."

"Well, Dreno, how about we call it even and you let me go and I promise not to hurt your cousin Sel-something."

"Selendrile. And I do not like the sound of your deal, Clairit. You witches are not the most trust worthy bunch."

"Neither are dragons."

"Excuse me, missy, I take great offense to that. We dragons are a noble breed, and most certainly are not bold faced liars."

"And witches are?"

"Mostly. And most humans know it; why else do you think you're hanged?"

She slapped him. And before she could move anymore, not that she knew what else she was going to do, he had her hands pinned over her head on the ground, which put him over her too close for comfort in a bunch of hay. That's when she saw his expression the same one she saw just before he transformed into the dragon, 'oops' face. But this time there was no twinkle in his eyes, they were just sombre.

"We dragons have been hunted and suffering as well, I hope you realize. I was stating more a fact than an insult." The twinkle in his eyes was back again, as he said, "Your heart beat is picking up even more. Am I really that handsome?"

"You wish. Any person caught, let alone pinned down by a dragon would have an accelerated heartbeat. GET OFF!"

"Why don't we start again Clairit?" he said pulling her up as he rose. Clairit looked around. They were in a farm area where all the hay was kept, slowly being packed up to send to neighbouring farms to feed their livestock.

"I don't want to start again."

"So Miss Clairit, I am Dreno and I have an offer for you," continued Dreno, ignoring her comment.

"I do not want to hear it."

Still ignoring her, Dreno bent down and picked up her cloak, which he apparently had at some point returned to the hill with the stake to retrieve, and handed it back to her whilst saying, "You can serve me for life. Or-"

"Not happening."

"Take me with you on your quest to find my cousin and your long lost sister," he said, as she grabbed the cloak from him.

"That's not happening either."

"Well, it is going to have to be one or the other. Otherwise, I will make the choice for you. Oh, wouldn't it be nice to come home to a nice little house, with a pretty girl to massage your feet, right Clairit dear?" teased Dreno, pulling the cloak and her closer her to him.

He scared the wits out of her, staring at her so deeply. It made her heart squeeze. She bet he was listening to her heart beat again, and she would have won the bet had it been made at some place of frivolous betting. "I would rather die."

"Well, that can be arranged." He was morphing again in front of her. Ripping his latest pair of shorts in the process, a green scaled dragon emerged in front of her. His nostrils flared, and the smell of sulphur and burning filled the air. He whipped his tail around so his slender but fine muscular body curled to surround her and the hay stack she had landed in. In a teasing fashion he clicked all his talons on the ground one by one, and then he opened his mouth. Her heart fell into the bowels of her stomach at seeing those teeth. They spelled death to its victims.

Without her magic she cowered before him, as his immense body left her no room to escape but deeper into the hay. "Wait, stop!" she stuttered, I accept! You can come with me!"

She was on the ground crawling awkwardly backwards away from him, growing louder as her voice returned. She worried he did not care no longer, as he may be amused by her no more. He slowly took on step forward, and she tried once more. Clairit screamed, "STOP! YOU CAN COME!"

And his jaws closed. She yelled and closed her eyes accepting death once more.


	4. Modesty

Chapter 4: Modesty

"Yeesh, do you always have to close your eyes? Or have you fainted again?"

Clairit opened her eyes, and realized she was still alive, buried in hay but alive. His jaws had not closed around her. Shaken, she cautiously pushed herself out of the side of the haystack she was in, only to immediately retreat back into it again.

"You know, I am not a dragon no more, or least not in dragon form. So come on out so we can set off, unless you think my handsomeness is too blinding for you."

She ground her teeth. She hated this dumb dragon, who won her consent for his companionship for her little trip by scaring her. When he did not hear an immediate response from her, Dreno inquired, "Have you fainted now?"

Putting her frustration and fears aside, Clairit found her voice, and through gritted teeth she said, "Put on some clothes dragon."

"Oops, I forgot about you human's whole modesty thing," he began, and Clairit could already imagine the expression he would be wearing on his face. She was getting to know him too much for her own good. "We dragons generally don't notice such things, as our maturity takes us beyond such trivial matters."

"Or you are too primitive to even realize it, much like the rest of the animals of the world," scoffed Clairit.

"Then, we should be allowed to walk naked as we please."

"Not when you are in the form of us nobler creatures! At least follow the customs of those you impersonate!"

"Well, Miss Clairit, I have no spares to replace the two shorts I had before scaring you twice now."

"You would have been the scared one if I had my magic, dragon. And I could have conjured you a pair of shorts as well with my magic. Perhaps you would consider removing these bindings?"

"If I had a death wish, I may."

"You fear me so much?"

"Like I have said before, you witches-type are quite nasty at times. But I don't doubt my abilities against yours; it's just that most battles come to tie. As in both parties are deeply wounded, if not mortally, and so I rather not lose a single bit of my handsomeness in a battle with a depressed witch, Clairit."

"It's not like you have much to lose."

"You know that hurt, real deep down."

"I did not know dragons were so soft. And a complete waste of time," Clairit began, remembering her mission once more, "I think I should go on this trip on my own since you unfortunately do not have the appropriate attire to come along. I shall collect my things… Where is my oak branch?"

"What your magical stick?"

"Yes, my oak branch," replied Clairit, as a series of curses went through her mind. But it only made her more frustrated that she could not put any of them into use.

"It must be somewhere in the hay stack cause I dropped it with you. What use is it to you now without your magic though?"

"Sentimental value," she answered, as she rummaged through the hay.

"Do you want help?"

"No. Stay away from me. Go find some clothes if you want to be useful."

"Well, let's see… I think the farmer that owns this place lives somewhere over there. He probably won't mind if I if I take just a pair of shorts I am sure. Actually, I am quite surprised no one has come by to check up on what the ruckus was about with you screaming constantly..." Clairit stopped listening as she had found her oak branch. She took a quick peek through the hay to see if the dragon was paying attention. He, thankfully, was turned away pointing down a dirt road that lead somewhere through the trees.

And there came Clairit's solution to her problem. She might not be able to beat a dragon through open air, but she can through the trees. And there was a forest all around the backside of barn. While the dragon was distracted looking at the dirt road on one side, she shall be long gone the other way. Checking on Dreno once more, who was still rambling away, and seeing that he was still not looking at her, Clairit bolted for the forest on her branch.

She glanced back once more just before she disappeared under the foliage. Thankfully, a stack of hay hid most of his body from her, but not his face. He heard her, though she did not make much noise, but then again she was dealing with the senses of a dragon. The grin on his face was so immense, that it made her insides curdle, and then he disappeared. She turned away before she had time to wonder where he went, because she had to watch where she was going. The last thing she wanted was to fall or crash then be captured again and find out the meaning of that grin.


End file.
